


book ends (thank you)

by maikuria



Category: Inn Between (Podcast)
Genre: ? - Freeform, Character Study, Fluff, Gen, I'm back babey, I'm emotional over that one line in s3e1, another sterling fic? another sterling fic, anyway, but this isn't really spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-10 04:02:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 722
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27627181
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/maikuria/pseuds/maikuria
Summary: In the old inn room he had once called his, Sterling ponders.ORRecruiting the crew is the hard part, saying goodbye is... not.(Sterling has thoughts and, for once, they are not an existential crisis about his place in the world.)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	book ends (thank you)

**Author's Note:**

> When I heard Zara's "don't be modest" line I had to take a moment, so now I'm sharing it with you

In the old inn room he had once called his, Sterling ponders.

_ Oh, don’t be modest, handsome,  _ Meltyre’s ex-classmate had said, smirking. Sterling had been  _ shocked  _ at the impropriety of that statement, but…

_ Modest. _

She had called him  _ modest.  _

The realization had hit him like a spell, turning in his head and sending warmth to his chest and stomach. And maybe… maybe that beat the point of what hadn’t necessarily been a  _ compliment,  _ but Sterling couldn’t help it, a smile had spread, slow, over his face. 

_ (Just out of his line of sight, Meltyre smiled.) _

He had quickly filed the feeling away, of course. Happy or not, he’s here on official business, his mission and duty came first. The trust that the Princess had shown them, he couldn’t sacrifice for something as selfish as emotion. As long as he is Captain of the Guard and the kingdom relies on him, he will  _ never  _ do anything less than stellar. He is sworn to that.

But now, after their experts have all agreed and just before Sterling and Meltyre head back to the castle, he stands in the room he asked Tessa for the key of and… 

“Modest,” he whispers, placing a hand on the rackety wooden vanity just a little ways from the door. “Who would have thought?”

Not him, of course. He had believed himself a pinnacle of virtue, once, or at least close to it. He had lived his life without questioning the values he was taught as a child. Sterling had been arrogant and entitled, not cruel but not kind either. He had thought that to excel at his role, he couldn’t be.

“I think you proved me wrong,” he says to the empty room. If he closes his eyes, he can hear the foundations of this place creaking. 

He closes his eyes, doing his best to recall the first time he had stayed here. The memory is almost lost to him, buried thanks to repetition and routine. Too many nights his party had stayed here for the first time to be of any particular notoriety. He can better remember nights he  _ didn’t  _ stay in this room, bunking with Meltyre when Tessa didn’t have enough rooms for them all or the night after Fina’s resurrection in which they had all wanted to stay close. He remembers falling asleep on Velune’s room as they finished patching up his wounds, and waking up to a thick blanket wrapped around him.

_ “I will not stand for this disrespect,”  _ he’d said on that faithful first meeting, unaware  _ (uncaring)  _ of the offenses he himself was committing.

_ Don’t be so modest, handsome. _

They had learned so much, he thinks, looking down at his hands. They had grown so much. He’d recognized it in Meltyre, and acknowledged it in himself, but… He hadn’t  _ realized,  _ yet, exactly what that meant. 

He is reminded, just a little, of evenings spent at Reevis’s side in the gardens of Castle Whitetower. He had only watched as the butler took to the small patch of garden he’d banned all the gardeners from touching, never participating. Reevis had explained deweeding to him. He had told Sterling about coaxing beauty into full bloom and nurturing it.

Sterling hadn’t understood, then.

He thinks he does, now.

“Sterling?” Meltyre calls, gently knocking on the open door. Sterling wonders if he’s having any of the same thoughts he is, but Meltyre has never been one for melancholy. Instead, Meltyre smiles at him, almost apologetic, mostly understanding. “We have to go now if we want to make it back to the palace for dinner.”

“Right,” Sterling nods, already making his way out of the room. He gestures Meltyre down the hall.“Shall we?”

Meltyre’s smile brightens a little, as though laughing at a joke that Sterling cannot understand. He lets it go, confident the joke isn’t at his expense.

He steals one last look at the room that changed his life. 

“Thank you.”

He isn’t certain if his words are in prayer or in conversation with this place. He does know they are in goodbye to this section of his life. It is easier now than it was the day Fina’s ballad echoed through the hall.

Downstairs, the new crew is drinking. Sterling thinks he might have some sort of idea of where this place might go next.

**Author's Note:**

> Come yell at me at ladywhitetower! Art requests currently open!! :D


End file.
